Delivering fun since 1981

Since our business was founded, our singular commitment has been to sell fun and exceed our customer’s expectations. As one of the country’s premier marina & hospitality companies, we pride ourselves on creating and delivering joyful, memorable experiences for thousands of guests. While our business has changed a lot over the years, our commitment to our guests, our team, and to delivering a world class experience has never wavered.

We can’t wait to welcome you soon.

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Inspiring lifelong memories by delivering the very best in boating & hospitality.

Our core values

Everything we do is guided by our four core values:

1 1

make it “wow”

anything worth doing is worth doing with “WOW”!

2

make it happen

good things come to those who initiate

our core 03

make it fun

because life’s too short not to have fun

our core 04

make a difference

be generous with your expertise, your time, and your money

Join ourfamily

At Best in Boating Marinas, we’re always looking for new ports. As one of the premier marina operators in the United States, we have the capability of providing both buyout and partnership opportunities for sellers as they end their investment cycle or look to transition to a new stage of life.

As a 100% family-owned company, we are proud to offer:

  • All-cash transactions

  • Straightforward contracts with fast timetables from due diligence to close

  • Deal flexibility with partnership opportunities or seller financing

  • Tax efficient transaction structures

  • Significant deal experience with creative problem solving

  • Seasoned operators that know how to create value

Make a difference

As part of our commitment to Making a Difference, we are proud partners of Freedom Waters Foundation, which enhances the lives of individuals with special needs and veterans through providing therapeutic boat experiences.

Freedom Waters Guiding Principles

1

To provide marine based, social, and environmental programs for unique individuals and their families through direct service and community partnerships.

2

To work collaboratively in this effort with the boating public, marine industries, and philanthropic resources.

3

To offer opportunities that result in feelings of independence, self-worth, and accomplishment.

4

To build a greater sense of community, understanding, and tolerance through sharing individual uniqueness.

Our leadership

Douglas J. Traina

Founder, President and CEO

Doug was fortunate to be able to incorporate his love of boating when he founded Best in Boating in April, 1981 with the purchase of a small marina outside of Atlanta, GA. From humble beginnings, he has grown Best in Boating into a vertically integrated enterprise encompassing nine divisions: Marinas, Boat Sales, Boat Service, Marine Retail, Boat Rentals, Hospitality, Food and Beverage, & Real Estate. Through this growth Best in Boating has grown from two employees to over 500.

With over 40+ years as CEO of Best in Boating, he continues to play a leading role in capital allocation and expansion. Doug received a Bachelors in Engineering from Georgia Tech (’74).

Doug is the proud father of 4 and lives in Naples, Florida with his wife, where he leads a healthy and active lifestyle. He is passionate about philanthropy and currently serves as a Board Director for Freedom Waters Foundation, which enhances the lives of individuals with special needs and veterans through providing therapeutic boat experiences.

Kent S. Gable

CFO

Kent Gable, CPA, has served as Chief Financial Officer at Best in Boating since 2004. Through Kent’s tenure, he has facilitated the creation of the corporate finance staff, establishing effective company-wide systems of internal controls, financial reporting, and operational accountability. He has 48 years of experience in accounting, finance, operations, human resources, safety, risk management, and systems management.

Prior to joining Best in Boating, Kent held leadership roles at several large multi-location companies, including Domino’s Pizza Distribution, Liberty House Restaurant Corporation, and Metro Media Corporation.

Kent is married with 3 children and 9 grandchildren. He and his wife enjoy travel, the arts, and adventure. They have rafted the entire 277 miles of the Grand Canyon three times. He enjoys playing tennis, alpine skiing and volunteering at the Atlanta Fox Theater.

Kent grew up in Southern California and received a BS from Humboldt State University.

Brent Pearson

COO

Brent Pearson joined T.E.I. in 1998 and currently manages the general operations of all properties company-wide, with direct oversight of Boat Storage, Boat Rentals, Boat Sales, and Boat Service. His broad and diverse experience in engineering, design, and operations have been core to Best in Boating’s marina expansions, facility construction, and operational improvements. Through his tenure, Best in Boating has managed 10% annual growth in available slips from construction projects since 1998 (exclusive of acquisitions). Before joining Best in Boating, Brent spent a decade with Ingersoll-Rand Corporation where he held positions of increasing responsibility in Production, Engineering, and Quality Assurance management. With a lifelong fascination of all things mechanical, Brent is a tinkerer and loves motorcycles, woodworking, and precision metalworking. He and his family love boating and spending time on Laker Lanier and Lake Allatoona.

Brent holds a Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology (’88) and an MBA from Berry College.

Dan Groom

Managing Partner of M&A and Business Development

Dan is Managing Partner of M&A and Business Development at TEI. In this role, Dan’s primary responsibility is to focus on growth initiatives, both organic and through acquisitions. In addition, Dan oversees TEI’s F&B operations.

Before joining TEI, Dan worked in Private Equity at Blackstone in New York and was involved in the firm’s investments in Servpro, Paysafe, and Vungle. Prior to Blackstone, Dan was an Investment Banking Analyst at Morgan Stanley, where he worked with companies across the Media & Telecom sectors. His transaction experience at Morgan Stanley includes Time Warner’s $85bn sale to AT&T, Univision’s $135mm acquisition of Gawker Media, and Vice Media’s $450mm private placement. Dan received a BBA in Finance from The University of Notre Dame where he graduated summa cum laude.

Dan and his wife Meredith are always looking for the next adventure. They enjoy traveling, spending time with friends & family, boating, and trying new restaurants. Having grown up playing several sports, Dan enjoys an active lifestyle and loves skiing, tennis, hockey, and golf.

Charles A. Dixon

Chief Maintenance & Projects Officer

Charles joined Best in Boating 1996. As Chief Maintenance & Projects Engineer, he helps oversee maintenance, master plans, projects, infrastructure, and safety company-wide. He has 28 years of experience in real estate leasing and acquisitions, permitting and zoning, and sales and marketing. Prior to his current role, Charles served as Managing Partner of Outdoor Media Group, an outdoor advertising division of Best in Boating which was successfully sold in 2017. Charles’ efforts and extensive experience were instrumental to the development of a solid long-term base of rental income on billboard land lease sites and two profitable sales of OMG assets.

Charles holds a Bachelors of Business Management degree from Auburn University.

Charles and his wife Monica have 4 children (including a set of triplets!) and are looking forward to welcoming their first grandchild. Charles and Monica enjoy boating, the outdoors, traveling, and spending time with their family.

William M. Archer

Vice President, Boat Rental Operations

William Archer joined TEI in 1990 and currently oversees Boat Rental, Gas Sales, and Ship Store operations company-wide. His management background and extensive knowledge of the marina industry has driven expansion of Best in Boating’s Boat Rental business, with significant growth of both revenues and profitability.

William started his career as a seasonal boat rental attendant, working his way up to where he now serves in his current role.

William holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Georgia Southern University with a Minor in Human Resources and Marketing.

William and his wife Beth enjoy traveling and spending family time on the lake with their 4 young children. The Archers live in Cartersville, GA near Lake Allatoona.

Kevin Allen

Boat Sales & Service Director

Kevin Allen joined Best in Boating in 2001 and currently manages the Boat Service division company-wide, including all marina locations and retail stores. Prior to serving in his current capacity, he started his career as a service helper, working his way up the service department where he went on to manage the most profitable location company-wide.

Before joining Best in Boating, Kevin worked at Rocket Marine, which was acquired by Best in Boating in 2001.

Kevin received a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Kennesaw State University.

Kevin and his wife Rickie have two daughters and are always looking forward to days on the lake with family. The Allen’s are avid boaters on Lake Allatoona and Lake Lanier. Kevin grew up spending most summers as a child on Lake Allatoona boating with his parents and grandparents. He is continuing that tradition by creating the same wonderful memories of boating and being on the lake with his wife and daughters.

Amy Looby

Marketing Director

Amy Looby, Marketing Director for T.E.I. Industries, began her employment in 2007 as a Rental Boat Reservationist while attending college. With a passion for the hospitality industry, Amy has always strived to improve and use her creative talents by constantly thinking of ways to improve operations and enhance the customer experience.

In 2008 she became Rental Supervisor and headed the move from a one room store and gas dock to the now 5,000 sq ft. Port Royale Store and Gas Island. After graduating in 2011 with a degree in Marketing from the University of North Georgia, she was promoted to Rentals Assistant Manager. In October 2012, T.E.I. Industries had an opening for a Marketing Director of which Amy was awarded that position. Since 2012, Amy has redesigned menus for the restaurants, brochures and signs for boat shows, increased social media visibility for all entities, redesigned the website and continually maintains current events, and is part of the core management team.

Amy’s hobbies and interest include two common things, the lake and dogs. She is an active volunteer with Angels Among Us Pet Rescue here in Atlanta. She enjoys spending weekends at the lake or competing in dog sports- sheep herding, frisbee, and dock diving with her border collie and aussie mix.

Dan Conklin

Parts & Service Director

Daniel is the Parts & Service Director for TEI Marinas, encompassing Park Marina, Victoria Harbour, Port Royale, and Fourwinds Resort & Marina. His primary focus is on customer satisfaction, which naturally leads to the growth and prosperity of his locations, departments, and employees.

A gearhead since birth, Daniel has always been interested in cars, motorcycles, boats, and anything with an engine. His father instilled in him a strong love of all things mechanical, and that early experience led to ten years in the automotive sector, where he worked in various roles for dealerships such as Suzuki, Volkswagen, Ford, Volvo, and even a couple years with Renault in Norway. Upon moving back to the States, he joined the team at Best In Boating in 2013 and has worked in Parts & Service ever since, and in 2022 took on his current role within the growing organization.

Daniel is also an avid woodworker, published Fantasy author with a brief—very brief!—stint on Amazon’s top-sellers list, and an active Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brown Belt. He spends his days grappling with friends and gym teammates, fiddling on cars, and spending time with his wife and two children. A big gaming family, they’re always down for an evening of Family Fortnite!

Nick King

Director of Food & Beverage

Nick is the Director of Food & Beverage focusing on all things hospitality within TEI. He brings more than 21 years of hotel and restaurant experience to the team. Most recently Nick was a regional general manager for 2 different high volume fine dining restaurant groups where he grew the leadership teams allowing for new store openings and making one of them the Atlanta restaurant leader during the pandemic and leading the way to remain operational.

10 years prior to those positions Mr. King served as an executive with Marriott, where he held multiple property positions within 6 of their flagship hotels ranging from 321 to 687 rooms with over 200K sq ft. of event space. During this time Nick had the pleasure to serve as the President of The Marriott Atlanta Restaurant Council, a judge for the final round of Atlanta’s “Masters of the Craft”, and participate on an award winning barbeque team “Runway Smoke”.

Beginning as a “dish-washer” and working his way up the career ladder Nick attributes his success on a people first philosophy he learned from Mr. Marriott. “Take care of the people, they will take care of the guests, and the guests will take care of you” This is shown through his implementation of his own “promote from within” strategy and recognized mentor programs where multiple servers have grown to function as restaurant general managers of 15mm operations and beyond.

When Nick isn’t “growing people” at work he commits the remainder of his time to his wife Julie and 2 boys; Nick Jr and Jacob (11yrs & 8yrs). The family enjoys the boating life to begin the weekends, followed by watching Nick Jr on the football field, and they wrap it all up for a reset at church on Sunday.

Corey Heath

Corporate Chef

Corey was born and raised in Sonoma in the heart of Northern California wine country. From an early age, he developed a passion for cooking and at 15 he began an apprenticeship at the famous 4 star Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa.

After high school, Corey moved to Santa Barbara to study Business Management at Santa Barbara City College. Corey’s passion for cooking remained and he soon went to work at Fess Parker’s Red Lion Inn, where he facilitated large scale events and banquets.

Looking to further develop his craft, Corey joined Capstar hotels and began an extensive apprenticeship in classic fine-dining French cuisine under Michel Richard. He was involved with the launch of all of Michel’s new restaurants in Santa Barbara, Washington DC, and Philadelphia.

Desiring to return to the West Coast, Corey joined Kimpton Hotel Group in San Francisco as Chef de Cuisine at Splendido.

In 1998, Corey settled in Naples, FL to become Executive Chef of The Dock at Crayton Cove restaurant, a position he has enjoyed for almost 20 years.

After joining Best in Boating in 2019, he was promoted to Corporate Executive Chef. Today, Corey leads Best in Boating’s Culinary department and oversees the food program at all Best in Boating restaurants.

Corey is a fishing enthusiast and loves boating, swimming, home cooking experimentation and golf. He continues to live and enjoy Naples, Florida with his wife and two children.

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